little shamrock shall again hide its soft green leaves under the rivers of Protestant blood that have more than once drenched its native soil, then England will be roused. God grant it be not too late! It is for Him to determine whether he will accept such tardy service at our hands; but this I will say, that those who are now lending their silver and gold, their time, their talents, their influence, and their prayers, to Jack's poor Ireland, in the spirit and with the view that belonged to him, will learn the blessedness of such a work when they meet the Dumb Boy in the kingdom of glory. CHAPTER XXIX. THE BISHOP. THERE was once a feeling in the Church of England that seems to have faded into a remembrance of the past, rather than to be a thing of present existence. I allude to the veneration in which the chief pastors of the flock were held, when, casting off the iniquitous mystery of darkness that had shrouded them in the imaginary sanctity, and armed them with the real terrors of a perverted and polluted pre-eminence, the bishops of the Reformation stood forth, arrayed in the garments of holiness, and walking in the light of an unveiled gospel. The brightest burst of sudden spring over a naked and storm-wrecked landscape scarcely typifies that revival. The wildernesses and solitary places of our land were made glad because of them: the blighted desert of Antichrist rejoiced and blossomed as the rose. The soft notes of the dove were heard, breathing peace and tenderness, where the coiled serpent alone had hissed and the ravening lion had roared after his prey. Then it was that an offering was made to the Lord, even the offering of the heart willingly yielded to Him, and a pure incense of "praises with understanding" supplanted the impure smoke of a debased carnal service. Then it was that the good bishops threw open the doors of their habitations, not to close them again on the secret conclave of priestly underplotters, assembled to devise plans for riveting ancient fetters, and forging new ones for the flock, but to invite their brethren to mutual encouragement in their work of faith and labour of loveto strengthen the weak, comfort the persecuted, exhort the unruly, and confirm the wavering. Not to dazzle the laity with a display of pomp and pride abhorrent to the spirit of the gospel, but to nourish the bodies of the poor with the meat that perisheth, and to supply their souls with that which nourisheth unto everlasting life. Then the bishop, robed in his gown with the flat-crowned doctor's cap on his head and the long beard imparting additional dignity to his aspect moved in meekness and gravity along the lofty hall, seeing that his humble guests were properly cared for, and waiting to bestow the ghostly counsel that severally or together, they desired to receive at his hands. Such was the spectacle displayed when a Ridley, a Hooper, a Latimer or a Cranmer presided. Their light shone before men with a pure and mellow lustre, illuminating and warming wheresoever it fell; until, blending with the short-lived blaze of martyrdom, it was swallowed up in the glory that endureth everlastingly. Then he that desired the office of a bishop, desired really a good work; and little indeed could the dross of filthy lucre, or the glitter of external pomp, or the grasp of ecclesiastical power, weigh with men who saw beyond that vista, the dungeon and the stake. These times of fiery trial are past; the manners of that age have given place to others as dissimilar from them as are the present abodes and employments of our prelates from those of their early predecessors: but blessed be God! the same spirit remains, and he sometimes bestows the heart of our primitive bishops on those who occupy their high places in the church. Often, in very early years, have I wandered among the relics of former days, in an episcopal residence where one of the fiercest and most savage persecutors of Mary's reign rioted in the blood of the Lord's innocent sheep; and as I marked the rich foliage, the thousand brilliant flowers that flung their graceful veil over broken ruins, rendering that most lovely which was formerly most sternly obdurate and harsh, I traced the more hearts in that which I have mentioned. glorious transformation of the episcopal office or rather its restoration to that which God designed it to be. There was a ruined porch in that garden which seemed to have belonged to a tower of great strength. Iron gates had enclosed it; massive bars had crossed and recrossed the narrow, pointed windows, and from its detached position, within the impregnable enclosure of a double wall, flanked by defensive towers, I never doubted its character of a prison. All, however, was then so changed as to render it a beautiful ornament to the grounds. No bolt remained: the old grey-stone that had bidden defiance to time, looked forth between the clusters of ivy and woodbine, and other climbing plants, while the gayest profusion of yellow wall-flower, variegated lichens, and long tufts of that most graceful and touching emblem of mortality, "the flower of grass," waved lightly on its broken summit. Roses and jonquils concealed its base; the interior was gravelled; rustic seats were placed around; and the dark prison-house of merciless Rome had become a beauteous summer-bower under the mild hand of Christian culture. Bishop Ryder possessed, beyond most men, the love and veneration of God's people. There was that in his character, in his manners, in his very aspect, that laid hold on the best affections of our nature, and would not let them go. I never saw a man who brought so strongly to mind the picture my fancy loved to draw of a bishop, in the bright, sad days of our martyrs. There was a childlike humility, a simplicity that nothing could tarnish, a meekness that served to render more impressive the animated energy called forth on occasions when this beloved pastor had to plead the cause he so deeply cherished. It is well known that he underwent a protracted martyrdom of feeling-and he was keenly sensitivewhen, with the voice of authority, and the louder language of example, he first strove to awaken the slumbering watchmen, and to call in the roving, unfaithful shepherds under his charge. Evangelical truth, though familiar to their lips in the stated services of our church, was a new and a strange and a hateful thing to the apprehension of the great bulk of the clergy, at the time when Dr. Ryder was raised up to enforce it. Known to the Lord are all And from among that cluster of flowers, the conflicts endured by that tender but I select the China-rose, the most simple, constant spirit, when, fixed like the Chinaunostentatious, and enduring of its numer- rose to its supporting wall he offered himous family the first, in spring, to open self to the most savage blasts of the first its pale, elegant petals to the early sun- break of winter, resolved to shine before beam-the last to quail beneath the win-men, and to breathe incense to his God, ter's blast. I select it not in connection whosoever shrank back-determined, in with the antique ruin that my childhood His strength, to stand, whosoever might loved, but with one whose task it was to fall or flee. Long it was ere the storm of preside, first in the spot consecrated by persecution abated; longer ere the gentle the pastoral charge of the blessed Hooper, hand of spring awoke a few companions and brightened by the fires of his martyr- to countenance him in the singularity of dom; and subsequently where God was his holiness. But the season advanced, glorified in the death of several martyrs, and brightened, and gladdened him with Robert Glover, Joyce Lewes, and others a vast number of associates, each in his whose name are in the book of life. Yes, own form, and his own place, rejoicing to it was upon a half-opened China-rose that do the will of his Master. my tears first fell, when, on the second of April, 1836, I first learned the removal to his Master's mansion of that dear servant of Christ, Henry Ryder, Bishop of Gloucester first, afterwards of Lichfield and Coventry. Few, very few, indeed, if there be even one, among those who read these pages, will fail to recognize a name dear to their Many of my readers, who perhaps knew not the severity of Doctor Ryder's early trials in the character of a Christian Bishop, must have been struck by the expression of heavenly gladness-so calm, yet so earnest-that marked his countenance, when, presiding over a public meeting, he cast his eye upon the animated crowd of listeners, while his ear drank in the pleadings of some zealous brother on behalf of those who were perishing for lack of knowledge; or the enumeration of successes already gained in the glorious cause. There was a time when he, like Elijah, had seemed alone in the midst of an unfaithful church: and his joy was as that of Elijah, when the convinced and prostrate multitude sent forth that shout, “The Lord, he is the God!" Full of love to the Saviour, and love to his fellow-men, that dear servant of Christ longed to gather into the fold every wanderer on the face of the whole earth; and there was not an effort made, from pole to pole, in which his heart took not an interest most deep, while his spirit went forth to every land, with those who proclaimed the glad tidings of salvation, and published peace. But there was one portion of a neglected | vineyard, which it was the dearest privilege and delight of this blessed man to bind up, and to prop, and to nourish. Poor Ireland's ancient, rich, and beautiful vine, so long rent down, trampled under foot, defiled, and preyed-on by the wild beasts that ravage the land, excited his tenderest sympathies. It was in the prosecution of this work that one whom I had long revered at a distance became the object of nearer and more devoted regard; and few among many privileges were more prized than that of being saluted as friend by the good bishop-the unwearied promoter of the cause. Like the Chinarose at my cottage door, he thus came under my frequent, habitual observation, and I could trace the resemblance that so beautifully connects him with the flower. At once so gentle, so unobtrusive, so graceful, and so sweet, each knew to endure hardness as a good soldier, uninfluenced by outer circumstances. Each was foremost to take the field, each the most persevering to retain it. Both looked so delicate that it might have seemed easy to overpower them by a show of opposition: both, leaning on a powerful support, bade calm defiance to the assault. Sometimes my rose-bush has caught me in passing, and when thus arrested I have stood to admire the rich gifts of God in the beauty and fragrance of the tree: even so, by his fervently affectionate appeals, have I seen the good bishop arrest the giddy hearer, and fix him in serious contemplation of those divine graces which he showed forth while magnifying them as the gift of the Lord. But man, in his best estate, is frail; and in his most mature decisions fallible. Bishop Ryder was carried away by the universality of his loving spirit, operated upon by the specious pleadings of the enemy who can transform himself into an angel of light. He yielded his assent to the measure that deprived England of her bright crown-he surrendered the strong hold of his country, in a blind reliance on the pledges of that church whose notorious principle it is to keep no faith with those whom she insolently calls heretics. That his having been so deluded was, to the good bishop, a source of deep and abiding regret, I can confidently say: that he looked with abhorrence on the rising rampancy of the Romish church, I know; and that he redoubled his efforts to uproot the abominations to the encouragement of which he had unwittingly or rather unwatchfully contributed, is witnessed by hundreds and thousands, who marked the increase of his zeal in that particular cause. I would not draw a veil over this error in judgment: I would not palliate it. The inspired record affords no example for so doing: and be they still in the flesh, or removed into the presence of the Lord, I say of all who connived at that national transgression, that it was a sin only to be blotted out by the blood of the Lamb. Often, when I have looked on the meek but animated countenance of that apostolic prelate, has my heart wrestled in prayer for him, that God would grant repentance and remission of the sin. I have thought of Peter, when, gifted as he was with so many and bright endowments from above, and honoured beyond others in the great multitude to whose conversion he was instrumental, a brother apostle saw cause to withstand him to the face, because he was to be blamed. God forbid that I should glory in the grace bestowed on a Ryder or a Wilberforce, without a feeling of deep abasement that in this matter they grievously erred. My china-rose tree is not free from blemish. Where on this sin-soiled earth shall we find an object wholly untainted as when the Lord first looked upon his finished work and pronounced it very good? Yet among the loveliest of inani- | Lord from the dwellings of man, than the mate creatures, that rose is singularly pleadings and prayers that had for their beautiful, abundant and abiding. It object the diffusion of light and peace, throws an embroidered mantle, wonderfully where all was strife and darkness. The wrought to the glory of divine workman- memory of that man is doubly blessed, ship, over the unsightly nakedness of man's who, while caring for every sheep of his poor contrivances; and brightens what own apportioned fold, stretched forth the would otherwise be a scene of unrelieved arms of love to gather also the poor wandesolation. Its very weakness is a call derers whom few recognized as claimants for our tender sympathy; for such are we even on their thought, much less upon all in frailty-but how few of us are such their mental energies, and worldly means, in the adornments which God has pro- to an extent almost unlimited. Scenes vided, and commands us to put on! more recent, names more immediately before the public, may throw into comparative shade those that have passed away: but I am not so weaned from what I have loved and venerated :-I delight to pause in my walk, to number the unfolding blossoms of the China-rose, and with a swelling heart to ponder on the memory of one who is transplanted to a fairer garden-the good bishop Ryder. The praise of the good bishop Ryder is in all the churches: there is no quarter of the globe where his efforts have not reached for the furtherance of the gospel: but chiefly on the spiritual wilderness of poor Ireland, and over the wretched abodes of her outcast children in this country, was their influence felt: and surely incense more acceptable arose not to the |